Treatment of textile materials



Patented Mar. 31, 1936 2.035.740 TREATMENT OF TEXTILE MATERIALS Camille Dreyfus, New York, N. Y., and William Whitehead, Cumberland, Md.,

assignors to Cclanese Corporation of America, a corpora tion of Delaware No Drawing. Application December 1, 1931, Serial No. 578,414

'zolaims. (01. 28-1) This invention relates to the treatment of textile materials, and relates more particularly to the treatment of yarns or fabrics containing organic derivatives of cellulose in order to improve their properties.

An object of our invention is to treat textile materials containing organic derivatives of cellulose with a substance comprising a free higher fatty acid whereby their properties are improved.

Other objects of our invention will appear from the following detailed description. ,7

Many substances such as vegetable or mineral oils have been employed for lubricating yarns in order to render them more suitable for winding,

fabric forming or other textile operations. However, such oils tend to gum or polymerize with time, so that yarns lubricated with them, when aged, do not run as smoothly as is often desired, in knitting machines and the like. Moreover, acetone soluble cellulose acetate yarn that has olive oil applied thereto and which has been aged for several months, does not deluster evenly when treated with hot aqueous fluids with the result that fabrics formed from such yarn, when dyed or otherwise finished, do not have an even deluster, but obtain streaks that have a luster different from the remaining portions of the fabric.

We have found that oleic acid or other free higher fatty acids form an excellent finish for yarns, filaments, fabrics'or other textile materials comprising organic derivatives of cellulose, which has many advantages over finishes previously employed, as will appear below.

In accordance with our invention we treat textile materials containing organic derivatives of cellulose after their formation with a substance comprising a free higher fatty acid.

This invention is applicable to the treatment of fine filaments, or a plurality of such fine filaments associated together in the form of yarn or larger filaments such as artificial bristles, horsehair, straw and the like, and also to fabrics or other articles formed therefrom.

Filaments or yarns containing or made of cellulose acetate or other organic derivatives of cellulose such as organic esters of cellulose and cellulose ethers may be treated in accordance with our invention. Examples of other organic esters of cellulose are cellulose formate, cellulose propionate, cellulose butyrate, while examples of cellulose ethers are ethyl cellulose, methyl cellulose and benzyl cellulose.

As stated, in accordance with our invention we to treat textile materlals with a substance comprising a free higher fatty acid. While we prefer to employ oleic acid, other free higher fatty acids containing at least 8 carbon parts of the molecule such as the free fatty acids derived from cocoanut oil, stearic acid, palmitic acid, ricinoleic 5 acid, or mixtures of two or more of these may be employed. However, we prefer to employ a higher fatty acid which is a liquid or a mixture of such acids, which mixture is in liquid form.

The finish, besides containing the oleic acid or 10 other free higher fatty acids, may contain other ingredients such as diethylene glycol, ethylene glycol, ethyl oxybutyrate, .olive oil, cocoanut oil, mineral oil or a mixture of two or more of these.

The oleic acid or other higher fatty acid may 15 be applied as such, or it may be applied whilst dissolved in an organic liquid, or it may be applied while emulsified in an aqueous liquid containing soaps, Turkey red oil, or other suitable dispersing agents. Examples of volatile solvents 20 for oleic acid are benzene, toluene, xylene, ethyl benzene, trimethyl benzene and gasoline; while examples of relatively non-volatile solvents for oleic acid are monoethyl ether of diethylene glycol, the propyl or butyl ethers of diethylene 25 glycol, mineral lubricating oils and the liquid glycerides of fatty acids.

The finish containing oleic acid or other free higher fatty acid may be applied to the yarns or filaments at the spinning cabinet at which ;they are formed while in transit to a winding and/or twisting device. However, it may be applied to the yarn during any other textile operation, such as while traveling from package to package or while in the form of hanks. Fab- 35 rics may be impregnated with such finish or such finish may be padded thereon in any suitable manner.

The application of the substance containing oleic acid or other free higher fatty acid of tex- 40 tile materials serves many useful purposes, some of which are here given.

The substance containing oleic acid or other free higher fatty acid may be applied to the filaments of organic derivatives of cellulose at the 45 spinning cabinet where they are formed prior to winding and/or twisting, whereby the filaments are lubricated and the yarns formed therefrom are lubricated and therefore are more amenable to winding, knitting or other textile operations. 50

Moreover, the oleic acid prevents or reduces the tendency of the yarns or filaments to develop charges of static electricity. Furthermore fabrics formed from aged yarn that has been trea'ted with oleic acid do not develop uneven luster during dyeing, delustering or other finishing operations.

Another application of this invention is the use of oleic acid or other free higher fatty acid as a 5 constituent of size, which is to be applied to warps of yarns of organic derivatives of cellulose in order to render them capable of withstanding the drastic conditions prevailing during weaving. Fabrics formed from such warps do not develop m an appreciable amount of warp streaks after dyeing, delustering and other finishing operations. A still further application of this invention involves the use of oleic acid and/ or other free higher fatty. acids to aid the delustering of yarns of delustered, preferably such sizeis first removed a prior to the application of the oleic acid and the like.

Another important aspect of our invention is m in the treatment of old yarn or fabric which has olive oil thereon. Such yarn or fabric when dyed or treated with hot aqueous liquid assumes an conditions of exposure, exhibited by yarns prepared according to the procedure ofExample I, and further, have even greater resistance to oxidative and polymerization changes in the finish thereon, which changes would produce gumming which is antagonistic to winding, knitting and like operations and are liable to cause dyeing and delustering changes when dyeing and delustering treatments are subsequentlyeflected.

Example 111 A fabric comprising yarn of acetone soluble cellulose acetate of approximately 54.5%' combined acetic acid, which yarn has been finished with olive oil,,peanut oil, tea seed oil, cotton seed v oil,or other oils comprising unsaturated fatty acid radicals, during the spinning operations or w winding operations conducted thereafter and uneven deluster; To prevent this, we treat suchaged yarn or fabric with a substance containing a 'oleic acid or other suitable free higher fatty acid and then subject the same to hot aqueous baths and thus obtain an even, subdued luster on. the fabric or yarn.

In order-further to illustrate our invention, but

cifie examples are given.

Example I e Yarn consisting or filaments of an acetone soluble cellulose acetate of approximately 54.5% combined acetic ,acid and of 150 denier, 40 filap merits and 2.5 turns per inch twist is furnished without being limited thereto, the following'speduring a winding operation with rollers, wicks, 4

discs, or other furnishing means with 5% of its weight'of the following mixture:

Part Castor oh 1 methylene gly 1 Oleic aci 1 as The yarn so finished is foundto have improved pliability, greatly enhancing the even a of-knitted goods therefrom. Such .yams or goods "therefrom, irrespective of age and/or conditions of storing, show no progressive change in delus- 60 terlng and dyeing propertiesand,'further, the,

finish thereon'shows practically no polymeriza- 65 as oleic acid have not been added,

tion as evidenced by gumming as compared with castor oil or its mixtures with dlethylene glycol or other solvent to which free-fatty acids such plied and exposed. v

. Example I! A yarn similar to that in Example I is furnished 70 by similar; means with a solution of -'oleic acid in the monobutyl ether of diethylene glycol si a a which yarn is of several different ages, say from 2 to 12 weeks taking the age' of the yarn back to the time when finished with the olive or similar oil, is padded to remove size with an emulsion of oleic acid 33%, NaOH'5% and added water 62% at 70 C. After so treating, it is preferable though not always essential to allow the fabric to stand a sufficient time to permit thorough soaking and penetration of the emulsion, the time for such standing will vary according to the nature of the fabric, the closeness of weave and the amoimt of twist in the yarn therein and so on, but usually soaking times of not more than 4 hours after padding are sufllcient. The fabric is then scoured and dyed normally and/or delustered. The fabrlc thus finished is found to be uniformly dyed and/ordelustered, but if not so treated is found to show differences in dyeing and 'delustering which may be connected with the age of the yarn.

Example IV I, Percent Gelatin 3.2 n mm 6.7 Glycerin 0,7 Oleic acid 0.7 Benzoic arid 0.2

Water 88.5

to which has been added 1% of the phospho-'.

lipide,-leclthin. Yarns so finished have the improved knitting qualities, also the uniform dyeing 78 and delustering properties irrespective of age or 1 The size is applied to the warp by means of a slasher in an amount equal to 8 to 10%'of the weight of the yarn. The warp may then be inserted in, a loom and then woven into afabrlc.

it is to be understood that the foregoing, specific examples are given merely by way of illustration and that many variations may be made therein without departing from the spirit of this invention.

Having described our invention, what we desire to claim and secure by Letters Patent is: 1. Delustered yarns comprising an organic derlvative of cellulose finished with an unsaturated fatty acid derivative and aged and which have had applied thereto, at a time nolater than the delustering operation, a finish comprising a free higher fatty acid.

, 2, Delustered yarns comprising cellulose acetatefinished with an unsaturated fatty acid derivative and aged which have had applied thereto, at a time no later than the delustered operation, a finish comprising oleic acid.

3. Process of reducing the luster of textile ma- .terials containing organic derivative of cellulose yarns previously finished with an unsaturated 2,035,740 fatty acid derivative and then aged, which comprises treating said materials with a hot delustering fluid in the presence of a free higher fatty acid.

4. Process of reducing the luster of textile materials containing cellulose acetate yarns previously finished with an unsaturated fatty acid derivative and then aged, which comprises treating said materials with a hot delustered fluid in the presence of oleic acid.

5. Process of eifecting uniform reduction of luster of textile materials containing organic derivative of cellulose yarns previously finished with an unsaturated fatty acid derivative and then aged, which comprises impregnating the materials with a free higher fatty acid and there'- after subjecting ,the materials to the action of a hot aqueous delustering liquid.

6. Process of effecting uniform reduction of luster of textile materials containing cellulose Y acetate yarns previously finished with an unsaturated fatty acid derivative and then aged, which comprises impregnating the materials with a free higher fatty acid and thereafter subjecting the materials to the action of a hot aqueous delustering liquid.

'7. Process of efiecting uniform reduction of luster of textile materials containing cellulose acetate yarns previously finished with olive oil and then aged, which comprises impregnating the materials with oleic acid and thereafter subjecting the materials to the action of a hot aqueous delustering liquid.

CAMILLE DREYFUS. WILLIAM WHITEHEAD.

CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION.

Patent No. 2,055,740.

March 31, 19 56.

It is hereby certified that error a the. above numbered patent requiring c column, line 71, claim 2, and "delustered read delustering;

read with these corrections ther of the case in the Patent Office.

Signed and sealed this 28th day of April, 1936.

(seal ein that the ppears in the printed specification or orrection as follows: page 3, first column, line 9, claim 4, for

and that the said Letters Patent should be same mayconform to the record Leslie Frazer Acting Commissioner of Patents.

Page 2, second 2,035,740 fatty acid derivative and then aged, which comprises treating said materials with a hot delustering fluid in the presence of a free higher fatty acid.

4. Process of reducing the luster of textile materials containing cellulose acetate yarns previously finished with an unsaturated fatty acid derivative and then aged, which comprises treating said materials with a hot delustered fluid in the presence of oleic acid.

5. Process of eifecting uniform reduction of luster of textile materials containing organic derivative of cellulose yarns previously finished with an unsaturated fatty acid derivative and then aged, which comprises impregnating the materials with a free higher fatty acid and there'- after subjecting ,the materials to the action of a hot aqueous delustering liquid.

6. Process of effecting uniform reduction of luster of textile materials containing cellulose Y acetate yarns previously finished with an unsaturated fatty acid derivative and then aged, which comprises impregnating the materials with a free higher fatty acid and thereafter subjecting the materials to the action of a hot aqueous delustering liquid.

'7. Process of efiecting uniform reduction of luster of textile materials containing cellulose acetate yarns previously finished with olive oil and then aged, which comprises impregnating the materials with oleic acid and thereafter subjecting the materials to the action of a hot aqueous delustering liquid.

CAMILLE DREYFUS. WILLIAM WHITEHEAD.

CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION.

Patent No. 2,055,740.

March 31, 19 56.

It is hereby certified that error a the. above numbered patent requiring c column, line 71, claim 2, and "delustered read delustering;

read with these corrections ther of the case in the Patent Office.

Signed and sealed this 28th day of April, 1936.

(seal ein that the ppears in the printed specification or orrection as follows: page 3, first column, line 9, claim 4, for

and that the said Letters Patent should be same mayconform to the record Leslie Frazer Acting Commissioner of Patents.

Page 2, second 

